Bringing Yoghurt to America

In 1929, Sarkis and Rose Colombosians, an immigrant family from Chunkoosh (a village in Western Armenia), started making yoghurt at a small creamery in Andover, Massachusetts. Their children helped distribute the product. The shop was names “Colombo and Sons Creamery” and delivered around New England in a horse-drawn buggy with the Armenian name “Madzoun” inscribed on it. Armenians, Greeks, Jews and Italians were the first customers. The name was later changed to Yoghurt, as per the Turkish name, in order to gain more popularity within the Near Eastern immigrant circles that used Turkish as a common language. This rise to popularity made the family into an important medium in making the healthy ethnic food into an American staple product. Eventually, the company was sold to General Mills.